H. L. Hunley

Replica

This is a replica of the C.S.S. Naval Submarine the H. L. Hunley, which was used in the movie based on the "HUNLEY". It was on view in Savannah several months ago. It’s rebel ingenuity produced floating mines, known as torpedoes. These were semisubmersible vessels carrying spar torpedoes, explosive warheads on long poles. They had been trying to break a hole in the blockade, now the Confederacy looked to its submarine H.L. Hunley, the third in a series of cigar-shaped water craft. It went out on a moonlit night in February against the blockade at Charleston. Just below the surface, she rammed a spar torpedo into a new Union’s steam sloop the Housatonic. With a muffled explosion her victim settled to the bottom. All but a few were rescued. The Hunley never returned. She holds the distinct honor of being the first submarine to sink a warship in combat completing her mission. This is actually a S. C. Monument, but having been on Georgia soil temporarily in Savannah I thought it would be of interest on our web site.



Unitarian Church

James Pierpont

The Unitarian Church is a small building on Troup Square between East Harris and East Macon Streets. The front of the church faces Habersham Street. The first congregation disbanded during The War Between TheStates because their abolitionist doctrines ran against the sentiment of the town. The building was used as St. Stephen’s Parish and later became the Savannah Baptist Center. In 1997 the Unitarians reclaimed their original structure, picking up where they left off 137 years earlier. The congregation enjoyed the music of the choirmaster, James L. Pierpont, a transplanted northerner, who composed the classic holiday song “Jingle Bells”.



United States Custom House



On this historic ground James Edward Oglethorpe, founder of the Georgia Colony, lived for a short time. In 1736 John Wesley preached his first sermon in the building which stood on the rear of the lot. The cornerstone of the customhouse was laid in 1848. The building was completed in 1852. Built of granite from Massachusetts, the structure is one of the most handsome and substantial public buildings erected during that era. The magnificent columns each weighing fifteen tons, were brought to Savannah up river on sailing vessels. Inside the unusual stairway divides at one-half height forming into circular stairs with no perpendicular support. Although the building is used primarily by the United States Customs Service and houses a number of Federal agencies. In earlier years it served as a Post Office and Federal Courthouse.

In 1859 -1860 the celebrated case growing out of the slave – running yacht "Wanderer" which was owned by Charles Augustus Lafayette Lamar was tried here before Judge James Moore Wayne, Associate Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court. Lamar was acquitted because he was not on board. The building is located at Bull and Bay Streets.




Irish Jasper Greens




Located in the Catholic Cemetery on Wheaton Street. This memorial monument was erected 1870 in memory of the Irish Jasper Greens. Georgia 1st Volunteer Regiment Companies A & B. Who died in the service of

The Confederate States.

1861- 1865.

"Requiescant in pace. Irish Jasper Greens."









BETHESDA
HOME FOR BOYS



Bethesda is located south of the city limits off Shipyard Creek on Ferguson Avenue.

In 1862 the bright skies over Bethesda were darkening with the clouds of war. The crops had failed and provisions were scarce. The board of managers from the Union Society of Bethesda decided to remove the boys from Bethesda to a more suitable location near Bethany in Jefferson County.
Bethesda Orphan Home was converted into a military hospital for the Confederate Soldiers of the 7th Georgia Battalion Infantry who were mustered into service September 9, 1861 and served on the Georgia Coast. These are some of the soldiers who died of Typhoid fever at Camp Hospital at Bethesda from the Lillian Henderson Roster of Confederate Soldiers:

Pvt. William Kennedy
Co. D 61st Georgia Regiment Died at Camp Bethesda May 14, 1861.

Pvt. J. P. Hughes
Co. E 61st Georgia Regiment Volunteer, died 1862.

Pvt. Archibald Wall
Co. E 61st Georgia Regiment Volunteer, died May 7,1862.

Pvt. W. R. Clark
unit unknown, died 1862.

I do not at this writing know where these men are buried. I list these names as proof of their having been a hospital in the home.



WARREN A. CANDLER
HOSPITAL

SAVANNAH POOR HOUSE
SAVANNAH HOSPITAL


Over the years Candler Hospital has seen many changes. In 1808 it was chartered as the Savannah Poor House and Hospital Society. In 1789 it was also called to serve as the Seaman’s Hospital. The hospital in dire financial straits, was sold to the Marine Fire Insurance Company and the Planters Bank for $21,000. It was later bought back by the city for $7,000. It was then made the Central Cholera Hospital, although the cholera did not invade the city. 1852 witnessed the exchange of various property pieces of the hospital complex in order that the city could complete its plans for Forsyth Ward (which included the laying out of Forsyth Park). In 1863 during the turmoil of war the hospital was occupied under civilian administration, as a Confederate Hospital. During the war the Hospital continued its work. In 1864, a stockade was erected in the rear. The large Oak tree in the parking area was encircled by a fence-like partition and used as a confinement for Union prisoners. After Sherman’s occupation of Savannah the rolls reversed until 1866 when the building served as a Union Hospital. When the Federal Army left, they stripped the hospital bare of all equipment. A negro doctor was left in charge and, while no hospital facilities remained , the building was used as a haven for negro refugees. In 1866 the Hospital was reorganized during the yellow fever epidemic and it is believed by historians that the administrators dug a cavernous underground morgue and autopsy room. This structure bears the distinction of being the oldest hospital building in the United States in continuous use… now over 152 years old. It was not until 1930 when the Methodist, faithful to the healing ministry, took over. One of the cities oldest institutions, Savannah Hospital, under new ownership will be operated on a much larger scale by Georgia General Hospital Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It was renamed Warren A. Candler Hospital after the beloved Methodist Bishop. When the South Georgia Methodist Conference assumed control in 1931.



St. John's Epicsopal Church Parish House
Green-Meldrin House
Charles Green's Home

Located on Madison Square, at Bull and Harris streets the home differs from similar southern homes of the 1800’s. Charles Green had materials brought from England as ballast in his ships. The front entrance with three layers of doors sets it apart. The outer door is studded with bolt heads; the two inner doors are sliding doors. One is slatted, the other is glass-paneled. The windows are also sliding, and the spiral stairway is one of the most beautiful in the country. The Green Mansion which was completed in 1861, is most likely the only one of its kind. The house was constructed at a cost of ninety-three thousand dollars, and took eleven years to build. It was finished just at the outbreak of the War Between the North and South. Charles Green sympathized with the south, and one of his sons served in the Confederate army. He himself was arrested and imprisoned for several months in Boston for bringing medical supplies in his ships from England for the Confederacy.

When the invading Yankee ended his "March to the Sea" in Savannah, Ga. and presented Savannah as a gift to the president, ( you know who), Mr. Green saved himself the humiliation of having his house taken as the enemy’s headquarters by offering it to the Yankee General. Charles Green was a British subject and one of Savannah’s wealthiest exporters of cotton did not issue the invitation to the Yankee because of any sympathy with the Yankee cause. He loathed the method of the destructive warfare. As the Yankee General was moving into the front room on the second floor, the Rev. Camaron F. McRae, then rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church (he previously a chaplain in the CSA), had occupied that room, he left the house immediately. He refused to stay under the same roof as the Yankee General. In a niche on the spiral stairway is a marble bust of the Rev. McRae. He out stayed his welcome for more than 5 weeks, inviting noted northerners as well as local citizens. Few Savannahians considered it a privilege to be invited.

Seventeen years later at the death of Mr. Green, the house became the property of his son. It was later the home of Judge Peter Meldrim and his wife, where the hospitality continued. President McKinley, and General Fitzhugh Lee were among notable individuals who visited there. In 1943, St John’s Episcopal Church purchased the Mansion and it became known as the Green-Meldrim House, the rectory and parish house. The grandeur of the house is well noted by Savannahians and they are ever so grateful to the Yankee for having run out of matches before he reached Savannah.



Andrew Low House



The Andrew Low Home is a classical mid-19th century mansion built for Andrew Low, a wealthy English citizen and Savannah cotton merchant. The house is Greek Revival, designed by John Norris, an architect from New York. It is built of stucco brick with elaborate cast iron railings enclosing the front and side balconies. Piazzas overlook the brickwalled garden in the rear. The home has welcomed many interesting visitors including William Makepeace Thackerary and General Robert E. Lee. Andrew Low’s son, William McKay Low, married Juliette Magill Gordon and they made there home here until her death in 1927.

Having founded the Girl Scouts of America, upon her death she willed the carriage house of the mansion to the Savannah Girl Scouts as their headquarters. It was here in 1912 that Mrs. Low organized the first Girl Scout troop in America. In 1928 the house was bought by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Georgia for their headquarters. The Andrew Low house has been open to the public as a museum since 1952.



ISLE OF HOPE
METHODIST CHURCH



The Isle of Hope Methodist Church was organized 1851. The first Trustees were George W. Wylly, Simeon F. Murphy, John B. Hogg, William Waite, Theodore Goodwin, Thomas Barnsley, and the Rev. William S. Baker.

The church building that stands here was erected in 1859 on land given by Dr. Stephen Dupon. Its architecture is similar to that of the early churches at Midway and Ebenezer. The gallery at the rear of the church was built primarily for the accommodations of slaves.

Symbolic of the hospitality extended by the Church to all faiths is the large key that hangs out side the entrance.

During the War Between the States a Confederate battery stood on the lot mounting two 8 – inch columbiads and two 32-pounder cannons. The Church was used as a hospital for Confederates stationed in the area. The pews (still in existence) serving as beds. Thirty-three Effingham county soldiers sleep in the adjourning churchyard.



NICHOLSONBORO
COMMUNITY



A hidden treasure on the Vernon River. Take Bull Street south until it runs into White Bluff Road. From White Bluff you will come to the entrance of Old Coffee Bluff Road. Turn to your left and follow the road ahead. The old church is being restored and will be open for tours in the near future.

The original Nicholsonboro Community grew out of the turmoil War Between the States and the beginning of Reconstruction. When ownership of the lands reverted from the self-proclaimed, "Governor" Tunis G. Campbell ruled these lands from his island on St. Catharines. During the Reconstruction, some 200 former slaves-mainly from St. Catharines Island, Georgia came here and established their own community in 1868. Ten years later, eighteen Negroes signed a mortgage for 200 acres of one John Nicholson’s land. In 1882, upon paying the $5000.00 they received the title. The newborn community was economically based on fishing and farming with Savannah as its primary market. Over the years, new technology and marketing laws became more stringent, the Nicholsonboro community weakened and all but disappeared. A monument to the community, the original Baptist Church, still stands. Community members constructed the tiny clapboard church in 1870. Some of the original pews, as well as a porcelain doorknob, remain. It had no electricity, and a potbellied stove for heat. The freed slaves eventually split up and went to Sandfly, Pinpoint and Beaulieu. The church is on the National Register of Historic Places. Two early pastors were Alexander Harris who served with the confederacy and is buried in Laurel Grove south and Rev. Daniel Wright.

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